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Tracklisting & More Information
A1 Time
A2 Come Out In The Sun
A3 Dancing Patterns
A4 Avalon
A5 Playtime
A6 Calico Bus
B1 The Constant Sound
B2 Ride A Pink Horse
B3 Peaceful Meadow
B4 Take A Look At Yourself
B5 Candy Egg
B6 Catch The Sun
Obtained from the vast personal archive of a former band leader & manager to the stars, Vic Lewis, the history of this record is mysterious to say the least, but its providence is sound. With songs apparently penned by George Wyle & production courtesy of the 'Elliott-Ferguson Inc.', aka Jack Elliott & Allyn Ferguson, this was obviously a record at the time with ambitions for release.
Musically, The Constant Sound is tightly arranged & consistently excellent, with perfectly tuned male/female vocal harmonies. It is classic sounding Californian Sunshine Pop, a la The Mamas & Papas, Lovin' Spoonful, The Seekers, 5th Dimension, with top flight orchestrations. Allyn Ferguson went on to pen the Charlie's Angels & Starsky & Hutch themes, no less. What's more, Psych collectors should note the reverb & delay drenched 'Dancing Patterns' & references to San Francisco hot spots in 'Avalon' & 'chemicals' on 'The Calico Bus'...
Patrick Lundborg states in his acclaimed 'Acid Archives' tome:
"A circa 1967 demo LP from a mystery band who deliver a dozen well-written, well-arranged & well-performed tunes in the California sunshine style, recalling Birmingham Sunday in particular. Unknown albums in this style aren't many, & this is likely to blow the mind of any genre fan, as it delivers on all the key areas & has no obvious weaknesses. The band's opening theme song is great, but perhaps the most remarkable thing is 'Avalon', an obvious tribute to Chet Helms' acid-rock palace, where these easy-breezy LA sounds were hardly the favored music. Housed in a gold-embossed title sleeve with no other clues except a 'Elliott-Ferguson Inc' producer credit, this may have been some famous guys sending out a test balloon under an alias; in any event it has to rank as one of the Holy Grails for collectors of '60s sunshine pop & lyte-psych. Only two copies are known to exist" [PL]
How many copies of this record were produced we cannot say, but how it ended up with Vic Lewis, a jetsetting big band leader from Britain with a love of the West Coast, is clear. Vic was also an in-demand manager, agent & talent scout. Rubbing shoulders with major Hollywood stars of the day, he also befriended & collaborated with many up & coming vocalists & arrangers of the era including Allyn Ferguson. Suffice to say, the record has remained stored in pretty much near mint condition in Vic's archives all its life... until now.
We hope the next owner will be as excited as we were to find this curio. It is very rare to find an undiscovered late sixties US album in this day & age that would easily appeal to Beat & Psych collectors. Suffice to say, we have just the one copy to offer.
LP RECORD
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